The present application is based on Japanese application no. 2000-072919, filed on Mar. 15, 2000, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an embroidery machine and an embroidery frame holding device.
2. Discussion of the Background
Japanese Patent Laid-open Print No. Hei.9 (1997)-302568 discloses an embroidery machine which has an embroidery frame holding device which permits the embroidery frame to be attached or removed for exchanging the cloth to be embroidered. This embroidery frame holding device has an arm holding body, as well as first and second arms. The spacing from the first arm to the second arm is constant. This device has a long side portion, and a user can control the position of the arm holding body by moving it along a side slot. In this device, the spacing between the first arm and the second arm cannot be changed. Therefore, the holding body cannot accommodate different sized embroidery frames.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Print No. Hei.8 (1996)-246324 discloses an embroidery machine which has an embroidery frame holding device which permits an article to be embroidered, such as a cloth, to be attached or removed. This embroidery frame holding device has a first arm which projects along one direction and makes it possible to attach and remove parts of the embroidery frame, and a second arm which projects along the one direction and makes it possible to attach and remove other parts of the embroidery frame. This device has a separate first arm and second arm. The base of the embroidery frame holding device has a first installation hole and an adjoining second installation hole. The first arm may fit the first installation hole; the first arm fits the second installation hole when user fit an embroidery frame having a different width. But this device can only accommodate two sizes of embroidery frames.
A need exits to overcome the aforementioned problems, and to provide an embroidery machine and embroidery frame holding device which can accommodate embroidery frames of various sizes.
Accordingly, the first aspect of the present invention is to provide the embroidery machine comprising a embroidery frame holding device including a first arm which projects in a first direction and which is adapted to hold a part of an embroidery frame, and a second arm which projects in said first direction and which is adapted to hold another part of the embroidery frame; a guide holding part which is elongated in a second direction which intersects said first direction; at least one of the first arm and the second arm being slidably mounted on the guide holding part for movement in said second direction such that a distance between the first arm and the second arm may be varied; and a releasable fixing device mounted to releasably fix at least one of the first arm and the second arm in at least one desired position on said guide holding part.
According to the embroidery machine in the present invention, at least, one side of the first arm and the second arm is movable and can slide such that the spacing of the first arm and the second arm is continuously variable along the length of the long guide holding portion. Therefore, when a user embroiders, if the user wishes to use a different size embroidery frame, either the first arm or the second arm is made to slide along the length of the long guidance holding device. In other words, the spacing of the first arm and the second arm is made small when user uses a small embroidery frame. When user uses a mid sized embroidery frame, the spacing of the first arm and the second arm is made mid sized. When user uses a large embroidery frame, the spacing of the first arm and the second arm is made large.
Accordingly, the third aspect of the present invention is to provide a embroidery frame holding device including a first arm which projects in a first direction and which is adapted to hold a part of an embroidery frame, and a second arm which projects in said first direction and which is adapted to hold another part of the embroidery frame; a guide holding part which is elongated in a second direction which intersects said first direction; at least one of the first arm and the second arm being slidably mounted on the guide holding part for movement in said second direction such that a distance between the first arm and the second arm may be varied; and a releasable fixing device mounted to releasably fix at least one of the first arm and the second arm in at least one desired position on said guide holding part.
According to the embroidery frame holding device in the present invention, at least, one side of the first arm and the second arm is movable and can slide such that the spacing of the first arm and the second arm is continuously variable along the length of the long guide holding portion. Therefore, when a user embroiders, if the user wishes to use a different size embroidery frame, either the first arm or the second arm is made to slide along the length of the long guidance holding device. In other words, the spacing of the first arm and the second arm is made small when user uses a small embroidery frame. When user uses a mid sized embroidery frame, the spacing of the first arm and the second arm is made mid sized. When user uses a large embroidery frame, the spacing of the first arm and the second arm is made large.
By the above embroidery machine and the embroidery frame holding device, only one of the first arm or the second arm is movable, or both of the first arm and the second arm are independently movable, along the length of the long guide holding portion.
The embroidery frame holding device of this invention may be included in an The embroidery machine specifically designed for it, or it may be retrofitted to an existing embroidery machine.
According to this invention, the guide holding part includes a high use arm position distinguishing device for at least one of the first arm and the second arm. In this case, a user can quickly set the arms to a high use position. The high use arm position distinguishing device can be visual, auditory or tactile, or a combination thereof.
One side can slide, for example between xc2xc to 5 times the length of movement of the other side. The long guide holding part can comprise the first long guide holding portion for sliding the first arm and the second long guide holding portion for sliding the second arm. The first long guide holding portion may have a length of between xc2xc to 5 times or ⅓ to 3 times that of the first arm, and the second long guide holding portion length may be between xc2xc to 5 times or ⅓ to 3 times that of the second arm.